Struggle in Russia

[Cultural and skill remedial classes are set up to improve the cultural quality of ordinary soldiers, help them better understand military orders and regulations, and improve their military skills and the speed of mastering military skills. 】

What Li Xiao said made Leonid fall into deep thought. When he first heard Li Xiao's idea, he felt that the other party was a little whimsical. Serf soldiers learning culture? Is this necessary? Can they cooperate?

If you don't go down to the grassroots level, you don't know how difficult things are. Going down there refreshed a lot of Leonid's cognition. For the first time he knew the difference between theory and reality, for the first time he knew how stupid ordinary soldiers were, and for the first time he knew how greedy and violent officers were.

Leonid used to look down on Kutuzov's run-and-run tactics in the 1812 War, let alone headshot tactics like Menshikov's today, and felt that he must be better than the opponent in commanding.

But after he really understood the actual situation on the front line, he realized that no matter whether it was the running tactic or the head tactic, it was a last resort. The quality of the Russian soldiers is really bad, they are simply a group of mobs, and they have an advantage in numbers.

So Leonid felt that if he wanted to make a career, he had to improve the technical and tactical level of soldiers, but he didn't think as deeply as Li Xiao. He was more inclined to strengthen military training and use strong training to form muscle memory for soldiers. Let their bodies learn how to fight.

However, Li Xiao opened another door for him. No matter how strong the muscle memory is, it cannot match a smart brain. If soldiers can be taught to read and write, so that they can understand military dogma and the intention of their superiors' orders, will they be able to do so? Will it perform better?

"I think this is inevitable!" Li Xiao immediately cited the example of the Napoleon era, "Look at the French army in that era, because the illiteracy rate of the soldiers at the grassroots level was low, they knew the meaning of the revolution, and supported the revolution from the bottom of their hearts. Their The fighting enthusiasm and fighting will far surpassed that of soldiers from other countries at the same time, coupled with sufficient training, this created the myth of Napoleon sweeping the European continent."

"Look at us again!" Li Xiao criticized disdainfully: "The soldiers don't know why they are fighting, they don't have faith, no fighting spirit, and they don't have enough training. An officer who uses livestock, can he perform well?"

Not only Leonid, Vishniak and Boris fell silent. Objectively speaking, the performance of the Russian army in 1812 was really not good, relying on the exchange of space for time to drag Napoleon to death. If there is no vast strategic space, no steady stream of sterling aid provided by the United Kingdom, and no fire in Napoleon's backyard, the result is hard to say.

Anyway, Russia alone will definitely not be able to defeat Napoleon, and will only be pressed and rubbed on the ground by the Corsican monster over and over again.

Li Xiao continued to peddle his ideas: "To tell you the truth, our military has lagged far behind the European powers. We are still 30 years ago, wearing military uniforms from 30 years ago and carrying weapons from 30 years ago. The drill ten years ago, but you have to deal with an enemy that is stronger than the French army thirty years later, isn't it courting death!"

Li Xiao said passionately: "You should know that the British and the French have begun to popularize new types of breech-loading rifles, and the accuracy of the rate of fire is far higher than that of the tattered muskets in our hands... The navy has also begun to enter the steam armor. Era, thicker armor, faster speed and more flexible formation... What do we have to fight against? Do we still rely on human lives to pile up?"

Li Xiao snorted disdainfully: "Last time we won the victory with huge sacrifices, but this time, even if we shed all our blood, we may not be able to repel the enemy! So there is only one way out, learn from the advanced experience of Britain and France, and introduce new ones." Technology to rearm our military!"

"But these new technologies are completely different from the traditions we've ever known, and it takes more specialized soldiers to operate these new weapons. Can we expect a bunch of illiterate and semi-literate people to operate steamboats? To maintain more complicated breech-loading rifles? Those guys I can't even tell my left and right feet.

Can you make good use of these advanced weapons? "

Leonid was speechless, he found that what Li Xiao said made sense. He once accompanied Crown Prince Alexander to England, observed the exercises of the Royal Navy, and also inspected the Russian Baltic Fleet, and observed the exercises of his own new steamship.

In contrast, the gap is obvious. The Royal Navy is obviously more proficient, while the Baltic Fleet seems to be stumbling, and it doesn't take advantage of the steamship at all. Obviously, this is the difference brought about by the difference in the quality of soldiers.

After pondering for a moment, Leonid admitted straightforwardly: "Your Excellency, you are right. The quality of our soldiers needs to be improved... Do you think it is a good way to run cram schools?"

Li Xiao was actually quite sensitive to Leonid's sudden interest in the cram school. After all, this is the crown prince of Alexander, who knows if he has a special mission to deal with him, so he definitely doesn't want the other party to participate in some things.

However, considering the matter of the cram school, there is no way to hide it. After all, so many eyes are staring at him, any sign of trouble will attract attention. If Leonid also knew and acquiesced in the existence of this cram school, he would have something to say when he was maliciously attacked.

After thinking for a while, Li Xiao decided to take a gamble: "It cannot be said that running a cram school is the best way. If possible, solve the problem from the root cause, and let the Minister of Education implement universal basic education for serf children is the fundamental solution." Dao... the cram school can only be said to treat headaches and feet, the audience is too narrow, and these soldiers are too old to miss the golden age of learning, so the result can only be said to be better than nothing!"

Leonid nodded, universal basic education is indeed the solution. But based on his understanding of the Minister of National Education, Uvarov, it would be better to kill him directly if he was asked to spend real money to run schools for the children of serfs. That guy was a die-hard serfdom supporter and there was no way he would agree.

"Then let's run a cram school first, and do what we can do first!" Leonid was really capable, and he directly expressed his support: "I will apply to the head of the team, and then you will even start a pilot project. Group promotion, and finally the whole army!"

Li Xiao was stunned. He really didn't expect Leonid to be so supportive. Didn't this guy really come to find fault?

When Li Xiao was still dizzy, Leonid said again: "Your Excellency, it seems that I underestimated you before, but I didn't expect you to pay so much attention to the military application of new technologies. Unexpectedly... By the way, I would like to ask you to write an article on the military application prospects and promotion of new technologies, and your insights in this regard are very inspiring to me... Let us communicate more!"